Chapter 2753: Chapter 2753
Ye Liuyun pondered for a moment before hesitantly saying, "That approach would be far too dangerous. The reason these martial cultivators aren’t motivated is that they haven’t witnessed the cruelty and greed of the alien races firsthand. If we allowed the aliens to invade a few planets and let them see the devastation, it might have an effect. But that also depends on whether the Empire’s governance has won the people’s hearts."
Liu Haotian shook his head. "The Empire would never agree to such a method!"
"Mmm." Ye Liuyun nodded in agreement. The Empire had never been particularly popular here, so this approach likely wouldn’t work anyway.
After a long silence, Liu Haotian finally asked Ye Liuyun, "Do you have a way to destroy the alien altar?"
The other commanders were startled by the question and turned their eyes toward Ye Liuyun.
Ye Liuyun replied, "I can’t say for sure yet. I’d need to infiltrate the alien base again and find the right opportunity. After their information was leaked last time, I suspect they’ve stationed at least one Eighth-Level Sovereign powerhouse there as a safeguard."
"Would you dare to try?" Liu Haotian pressed. "I want to eliminate the current alien forces to buy time for recruitment and military training."
"I can make the attempt," Ye Liuyun said, rising to his feet. "But I can’t guarantee the timing or the outcome. Still, I’ll do my best."
"Good. Go ahead. Name any support you need, and it’s yours," Liu Haotian said solemnly.
Ye Liuyun responded immediately, "Nothing is needed. This time, I’ll only take a few of the strongest soldiers with me. The rest should stay and train."
"Be careful. Adapt as needed—if there’s truly no opportunity, just retreat," Liu Haotian cautioned.
"Understood!" Ye Liuyun acknowledged before swiftly leaving to prepare.
Before Liu Haotian even realized it, Ye Liuyun had vanished without a trace. Days later, when he received a message, Ye Liuyun was already inside the alien base.
"That kid... Only he could pull this off!" Liu Haotian chuckled helplessly upon reading the message.
He had assumed Ye Liuyun was still making preparations in camp, not expecting him to infiltrate the alien base so quickly.
"It seems he’s far more effective at covert operations when working alone!" Liu Haotian analyzed.
The other commanders, upon hearing that Ye Liuyun had infiltrated the alien base once more, gathered in the main tent whenever they had a spare moment, eagerly awaiting updates on his mission.
Cloaked in his invisibility mantle, Ye Liuyun lurked on the outskirts of the alien stronghold. Two alien warriors at the seventh level of Dominance had vaguely detected his presence through scent, but he had already subdued them both, branding them with slave seals to ensure their obedience.
Through soul-searching, he had gleaned crucial intelligence: the aliens had indeed dispatched a Dominance-level-eight powerhouse to guard the base—specifically, the teleportation altar.
Ye Liuyun dared not approach the altar himself. Even the faintest trace of his scent or the slightest spatial disturbance might alert the Dominance-level-eight alien. This time, he exercised extreme caution, avoiding the alien encampment entirely and instead skulked along the periphery, capturing high-ranking aliens to extract information via soul-searching.
"Only one option remains," he strategized silently. "Lure out that Dominance-level-eight alien, eliminate it with temporal power and the black-and-white light, then seize the moment to have my enslaved alien warriors destroy the altar."
Yet, he had no real grasp of how formidable a Dominance-level-eight opponent might be. Even if he succeeded in drawing it out, escape was far from guaranteed.
Before he could decide whether to take the risk, another Dominance-level-seven alien scout detected him.
Ye Liuyun had been constantly shifting positions, wary of lingering too long in one spot lest the concentration of his human scent betray him.
This time, the alien scout caught a faint whiff of his recent passage while patrolling. Immediately, it began scouring the area.
Acting swiftly, Ye Liuyun employed his temporal power to brand the alien with a slave seal, preventing it from raising an alarm.
But the moment he restored the flow of time, an overwhelming spiritual sense—one far more powerful than any he had encountered before—swept over him, locking onto his presence without hesitation.
"Damn it—it’s that Dominance-level-eight alien! It’s found me!"
Ye Liuyun hadn’t anticipated the alien’s spiritual perception to be this acute. He spun around, ready to flee.
Yet, in the sky above, a colossal alien claw materialized, formed entirely of condensed true essence. It blocked every possible escape route, sealing off his path.
"Incredible power!" Ye Liuyun instantly realized he was no match for his opponent.
With no other choice, he tapped into his temporal powers once more, summoning Toling’s clone to take his place and mislead the alien powerhouse. Meanwhile, he used his time manipulation to slip free from the grasp of that colossal claw.
Toling’s clone was engulfed by the massive claw, crushed into oblivion by sheer energy before the claw even fully descended.
Watching from a distance, Ye Liuyun felt a chill run down his spine. The strength of this Eighth-Level Sovereign was downright terrifying. But before he could flee far, that overwhelming spiritual sense locked onto him again, and the enormous claw reappeared in the sky, descending toward him with crushing force.
The oppressive weight beneath the claw slowed his movements, making escape even harder.
"Damn it! How can this guy’s spiritual sense and energy claw reach so far?"
Panic surged through him as he activated his temporal powers yet again, this time releasing Toling himself as a decoy. Without a backward glance, Ye Liuyun bolted. Even after his temporal energy replenished, he didn’t dare look back or probe with his spiritual sense to check on Toling—he just kept running.
But his trick didn’t fool the Eighth-Level Sovereign. After obliterating Toling, it immediately noticed the discrepancy in his spiritual signature.
Now, Ye Liuyun had indeed put some distance between them, and the alien powerhouse found it increasingly taxing to maintain its energy claw. Determined not to let him escape, it finally gave chase, its spiritual sense locking onto Ye Liuyun once more.
Sensing danger, Ye Liuyun pushed his spatial powers to the limit, sprinting at full speed while simultaneously commanding the three Seventh-Level Sovereign alien warriors under his control to seize the moment and destroy the altar. With the Eighth-Level Sovereign distracted, this was their best chance.
But now, Ye Liuyun had to figure out how to deal with the powerhouse himself. The alien’s spatial abilities far surpassed his own—with just a single flash-step, it closed the gap alarmingly. Desperate to buy time, Ye Liuyun abruptly changed direction, hoping to prevent it from unleashing that devastating energy claw again.
Yet the powerhouse merely flashed forward once more, effortlessly closing in. By now, it had sensed Ye Liuyun’s human aura and his Fourth-Level Sovereign cultivation.
In a last-ditch effort, Ye Liuyun flicked his wrist, releasing the black-armored alien he had previously imprisoned in his spatial world. The moment it appeared, the warrior threw a desperate, full-powered punch—even burning its core energy—straight at the Eighth-Level Sovereign.
But the powerhouse barely spared it a glance, casually backhanding the black-armored alien into a bloody mist without breaking stride. Without pause, it continued its relentless pursuit of Ye Liuyun.
